Expand Your HorizonsCountries around the world, from Iceland to South Africa, have
established millennium commissions of their own and are busy
planning programs and activities. Communities across the U.S. are expanding their millennial celebrations to coordinate with communities worldwide.

Why not mark the millennium within your community by reaching beyond local boundaries?
Consider using an existing tie with a community overseas to generate ideas for celebration, or forge a sister city relationship through Sister Cities' International. For example, the Chicago Sister Cities' International Program will match at least one Chicago Public School with a school in each of Chicago's Sister Cities' around the world. Students, teachers and administrators are communicating across borders via the Internet, video, letters and exchanges. Each Sister Cities' committee will have a humanitarian project, such as a project between Chicago and Casablanca, Morocco, which have set up a relief fund to revitalize the Children's Hospital in Casablanca.

Additional examples of communities connecting around the world

Sister Cities' has planned a US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. This project pairs libraries with libraries in other parts of the United States or throughout the world to encourage an exchange of professional and cultural information. The primary focus of information exchanged through this program is on children. Sister Cities has also developed a Pause for Peace Initiative, which included the message of peace in all global millennium activities. This includes projects such as "What works in a Peaceful Community: Stories of Courage, Compassion and Civility."

The town of Woodbury, New Jersey has a millennium project that will link the city to its English roots. In the spring of 2000, a 112-foot replica of a 1725 brig, the Phoenix, will retrace the historic journey of Henry Wood, a Quaker from Bury who is credited with founding Woodbury. On July 1, 2000, the new ship's crew made up partly of young people from Bury and Woodbury, will arrive in Woodbury Creek for a week long millennium celebration.

Kentucky has embarked on an international cultural program with France called the Millennium Monument Project. A major feature of this project is the 66,000 pound World Peace Bell, which is decorated with designs highlighting the contributions of man over the last 1,000 years. Culminating the project will be a community to community viewing of the bell as it makes its way across the Atlantic from France and up the Mississippi River to the Millennium Monument site in Kentucky. On New Year's Eve 1999, the bell rang once every hour as each time zone heralded the year 2000.

Upcoming International Millennium Events

Viking Exhibit. The year 2000 marks the 1000-year anniversary of the Vikings' arrival in North America. According to historic documents and now confirmed by archeological finds, Vikings such as Leif Eriksson sailed west across the North Atlantic from their homelands in Northern Europe, eventually reaching the northeast coast of North America in 1000 A.D.

It was at that moment when Europeans and Native Americans first met. The Leifur Eiriksson Millennium Commission will commemorate the discovery of North America with the construction and sailing of a Viking ship along the route sailed one thousand years ago by Leifur Eiriksson; the ship will arrive in Newfoundland on October 9, 2000.

The National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. will commemorate this historic event with a major traveling exhibition and educational initiative called Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. This interactive exhibit will emphasize the historical link between Europe and North America while exploring how we have come to know our past and the relevance the past has for the future. This exhibit will open at the National Museum of Natural History on April 29, 2000, and will make a 2-year tour of the continent, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Ottawa. This exhibit will include an interactive web-site, educational materials, and a translation of existing literature, commemorative coins and stamps. The US Mint along with the Central Bank of Iceland will be issuing two commemorative coins. Both countries will be honoring the new millennium with their own stamps and cancellations. A joint effort of The National Library of Iceland, Cornell University and The Library of Congress will host a two-day Symposium, May 24-25, 2000 at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The exhibit will include examples of Icelandic manuscripts, printed books from the 16th century onward, visual electronic media, and film to illustrate Icelandic medieval civilization. This is only a few of the more than 230 events at 70 venues across the United States and Canada during the year 2000 that will focus on Iceland.

Assemblies are being planned for young people to join in mapping their own paths for the next century such as: the Incredible Gathering of Youth (Michigan), an International Youth Parliament (Israel), the Millennium International Children's Congress (Hawaii), the Millennium Young People's Congress (England), the UN Youth Assembly (New York), the World Summit of Children and the Young General Assembly (San Francisco and New York).

The United States will provide cultural programs and technological innovation in Hannover, Germany at the World's Fair- EXPO 2000. Exhibits and pavilions from nearly 200 nations and international organizations will be assembled to explore relationships between people, nature and technology in the 21st century. Another international exposition in which the United States will have a presence will be held in The Millennium Dome outside London in Greenwich, the home of the Royal Observatory and the starting point for the measurement of international time zones. The five U.S. Cities participating and providing music for the program July 1-2, 2000 in The Millennium Dome, include:

New Orleans, LA, with a traditional brass marching band,

Memphis, TN, with a traditional blues group,

Nashville, TN, with a traditional country music,

Indianapolis, IN, with a jazz trio or quartet, and

Chicago, IL, with a gospel choir

For additional information on the Day in the Dome celebration, contact Joan F. Small, First Duty Commissioner, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, at Lajfsamll@aol.com

On a global scale, the United States led many countries worldwide when it designated February 29, 2000, as International Gifts to the Future Day. Participants in this international event took the time on this extra day of the year to honor and improve the lives of children - our most precious gift to the future -- within their communities.

Millennium Around the World: The Millennium Around the World program was an international effort within the overall America's Millennium celebration, for the diplomatic community and their families to commemorate the dawning of the new
century. Some of the day's festivities included exhibits of the International Child Art Foundation, and the World Bank, as well as excellent performances from talented international children and murals painted by children. In addition, the President, Mrs. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, addressed the international community and their families during the event.